Echolocating Towards Equality

Right now we are in Staycation 2012 – the five days before my husband starts his new job. Yesterday we went to the Paris Theater in New York City (one of my very favorite movie theaters on the planet.)

The movie is about the relationship between a parapalegic man and his caretaker. And it is BRILLIANT. It is one of the first times I have seen an able bodied actor portray a wheelchair using character without pissing me off. Frequently in film, able bodied people play disabled characters, and it is infuriating. Watching Eliza Dushku and Jodie Foster use a white cane was like nails on a chalkboard. But I will talk about that at another time.
What made this movie so wonderful, was that it really broke all my stereotypes about films about the disabled. I was expecting to see a movie about how wonderful the caretaker was – and sure, it was about that. But it was also about how this caretaker gave the man who needed him the ability to feel no shame.
No pity.
I knew I’d be happy with the movie within the first fifteen minutes of the film because at the very beginning about fifteen men are interviewed by Philippe’s secretary and Philippe. And the experience is true to life. Every. Single. Interviewee. looks at the secretary and only speaks to her, but Driss? Driss speaks to Philippe directly – and through the entire interview montage I was laughing my ass off.

The movie is an honest and hopeful portrayal of life with a disability and for that I’m incredibly grateful. For once I didn’t leave the movie theater seething.